The Ayeka Trials
by Sahari
Summary: Sequel to "Sasami! Where's Dinner?!", Sasami comes back...! O.O;;


Disclaimer: Pioneer owns all the characters Sasami, Ryoko, Noboyuki, Tenchi, Yosho, Ayeka, Ryo-ohki, Kiyone, and Mihoshi. I take no rights to these characters.   
  
  
The Ayeka Trials  
  
By Sahari  
  
"This way, Sister!" Sasami giggled, pulling on Ayeka's hand.  
"Okay, okay," Ayeka, smiling at Sasami, said happily, "I'm coming"  
Ayeka looked around at the forest surrounding them. The moonlight peeked through the leaves above them. The rays of light beautifully shined on Sasami's smiling face. Sasami turned and ran to forest, laughing merrily. She skidded to a stop under a tree of odd colours. Its leaves were all purple and blue. Ayeka smiled, and sat next to Sasami. The young princess simply smiled, and slowly faded away.   
"Sasami!" She cried, and frantically patted the ground where Sasami once sat.   
Paint seemed to start to drop onto Ayeka's head. She looked up, and found the blue from the leaves dripping off, leaving the leaves a dark black.  
  
Ayeka's eyes shot open, waking from her dream. Ayeka sat up in her bed and looked around. She sighed, and rubbed her eyes. She lied down with the intention to sleep, but after some time Ayeka got out of bed, and went to go get a glass of tea. After making her beverage, Ayeka leaned against a counter, slowly sipping at her drink. She closed her eyes, drifting into her thoughts.  
"Couldn't sleep either, I see." A calm voice said behind her.  
Ayeka looked over her shoulder to see Washu. The redheaded genius smiled at Ayeka, with her own glass of tea in her hands.  
"I didn't hear you come in." Ayeka said, turning to see Washu.  
"Nightmares again?"   
"I'm afraid so."  
"Hmm.. Sasami? What happened?"   
"She just disappeared. She was right there and she just.." Ayeka broke off, and wiped a tear from her cheek.   
  
Sasami opened her eyes slowly. She was sprawled out on the ground; above her, the black sky showed clearly. The stars lit her scenery with a bright glow. She was a the edge of a lake, looking at the moonlight shimmering across it's placid surface. A large forest circling around it, and just beyond the lake was a tree. Large with vivid colours the tree stood tall and proud. All around her, Jurians were walking to the tree. They were a shady blue, and ghostly. She stared in disbelief, as she watched them line up to a tree and..  
  
"It just consumes them." Ayeka explained.  
She sat in Washu's laboratory, sitting very calmly on a stool. She stared blankly at the ground, all emotions hidden from her eyes.   
"So, let me get this." Washu said curiously, "I've never heard of this before, it's amazing."  
Washu sat before her computer, her fingers moving furiously across the keyboard.   
"Alright. They appear in an alternate world, as souls?"   
"Yes, their bodies are left on the world. Their souls leave."  
"And, afterwards, the tree just takes them in?"  
"Not exactly. They place their hands on the tree and say, 'Live as a Jurian, die as a Jurian. I give myself to this planet.' The Life Tree then consumes their souls. The tree helps life be re-born on Jurai. Our souls are what keep it living."   
"Fascinating.."  
"The thing is, Sasami doesn't know..."  
  
"Where am I?" Sasami said, in hopes someone would answer.   
The blue-haired girl sat lonely by a bush. One after one, she watched the Jurians be surrounded by a bright white light, and no longer be present. Although Sasami's mind and body had been hardened lately, the sight of her people being taken away was too much. Slightly frightened, she trembled, a tear running down her pale cheek...  
  
Directing herself out of Washu's laboratory, Ayeka walked back to her room. Her head lowered, she watched her feet shuffle across the ground. Saddened inside, she did her best to keep her emotions back while the chance of being in public remained. Walking into her room, she locked the door, and lied in her bed. Pressing her head to her pillow, she softly wept until the sun rose later in the after noon.   
  
Sasami laid her head on the grass, closing her eyes.   
"It's all just a bad dream.." Sasami reassured herself. "Tomorrow, you'll wake up and be on your way home.   
She laced her fingers in front of her closed eyes, tucking in her knees. Soon, she was drifting off into a sleep. She grew more and more tired, until something brushed over her. It surrounded her, practically went through her. In slight fear of opening her eyes, to once again see Yamobi, she clenched her eyes shut. Again, it swept across her. Facing her fears, she opened her eyes, finding that all that was disturbing her was the wind, and her shadowy blue fingers staring at her.   
"No..." She whispered softly to herself, looking at her feet, arms, legs...   
"No." She muttered almost desperate for this awful fate not to be true.  
Rising to her legs, Sasami looked around her. The spirits kept suffering the same consequence over and over. Instinctively, Sasami ran, as far away from the tree as her legs would take her, jetting off into the forest. Seconds.. Minutes.. Hours went by. She continued her search, her legs growing more useless with each step. Finally, not being able to take herself any further, she collapsed onto the ground...  
  
A soft knock emitted from Ayeka's door. Ayeka opened her eyes, sat up in her bed, and turned to the door.   
"Come in." She muttered.  
Opening the door, Ryoko walked a step into Ayeka's room, her head facing the ground.   
"Breakfast, Ayeka..." Ryoko, as well as the majority of the house, were mourning over Sasami, knowing full well that nothing, no one, could ever fill her shoes.   
"Can I get you anything else?"   
Ryoko said this, trying to help Ayeka through her troubles. Yes, she and Ayeka had fought a lot, but she knew that in times like these, Ayeka needed a friend - a sister - to be by her side.   
"No, no. I will be fine."   
  
Another silent breakfast passed. No one spoke, for fear of upsetting Ayeka more than already, or depressing themselves. After she had finished her breakfast, Ayeka excused herself, and retreated again to her room. As she climbed the steps to her room, she heard the others talking among themselves.  
"I miss Sasami..." Mihoshi softly whimpered.  
"We all do." Kiyone said, patting Mihoshi on the head.   
Sighing, Ayeka shut the door to her bedroom, sat down, and began to scribble down her thoughts on paper.  
  
*Bump* Sasami twitched slightly. *Thud* Slowly, she opened her eyes. Her head pressed against the ground, she looked down at a large patch of dirt, which happened to be all she could see. It was dark, sunlight found no way through to her. The soft pounding above continued. Slowly, she turned around. Looking above her, Sasami saw a well built wooden floor. Confused, she sent her hands to examine the wood, and blindly find a way out. She only found that she felt nothing, but wasn't able to see her hands. She sat up, straining her eyes to find her hands. Half way through the process of it, she found light shining upon her. Even more bewildered, Sasami stared at her surroundings with an open mouth, her eyes wide open. She was in a house! But where, and who's was unknown to her. Thinking the house had been abandoned, Sasami began to venture through the vacant home.   
  
Ayeka had wandered down to the living room at the late at night. Not able to sleep much longer, she sat awake, staring at the television. She lost herself in it, forgetting anything once in her mind. Hearing the television, Tenchi went to find who was still awake. Finding Ayeka had left her room, Tenchi sat down next to the jurain princess, and watched with her. One by one, the other household occupants joined them. Looking around her, Ayeka realized how much she was cared for, and for once since Sasami's passing, had a smile on her face.  
  
Peeping her head around the corner, Sasami examined the room. She had traveled through a kitchen, up some stairs, and this was her second choice of rooms. All of it seemed strangely familiar. Slowly creeping into the room, Sasami began to examine it. The room gave her a light feeling of uneasiness in her stomach. Sasami, seeing papers on a desk in the room, went to read them, hopefully finding out who's home she was in. She mumbled aloud to herself, as her eyes scanned over the paper:  
"I think i'm getting better. Yes, I still miss her, and I don't think that I-- No, no, that anyone will ever stop missing Sasami. But we will all move on, no matter how long it takes. - Ayeka Jurai..."   
Sasami stood, staring at the paper. Slowly, her eyes drifted, onto a bed in the room that she had ignored before hand. In it, Ayeka was sleeping peacefully. One last look at her sister, and just before a noise escaped her lips Sasami was transported away.   
  
"Ah. Nice to see you, Sasami." Washu said cheerfully. "The house has been rather dull, and dreary with you gone.   
"Washu..? How'd I.. Where.." Sasami stood staring, lost with words. "Washu?"   
"Heh. Yes, ofcourse i'm Washu. And yes, you are home again. But, if you haven't noticed, you've changed an awful lot." Washu said, running her hand through Sasami's.   
"I've noticed.." Sasami said gloomily.   
"I'm sure by now you've got some questions, eh?"  
Sasami nodded her head, found her way to a stool, and began to rattle off the questions she needed answers to.  
"Why me?" Sasami said, lowering her head.  
"It's not like natural selection, Sasami. You died.."  
"Can I change back..?"   
"I wouldn't know. You'd have to ask Ayeka. I'm not sure if she's ready yet to see you."  
Sasami sighed, and stared at the ground while Washu repeated any information on what she knew about the Jurain "heavens".   
  
Ayeka knocked on Washu's lab door the next morning. She waited for a minute or two, before becoming impatient, and knocking on the door louder.   
"Washu-san! Breakfast is ready!"  
Opening her door, Washu yawned, mumbled a breif "Washu-chan" and slowly shuffled to the table, took her plate, and wandered back into her lab. Tenchi shot a questioning look at Ayeka, who shrugged her shoulders and walked to Washu's lab door again, annoyingly knocking on her door.   
"Who's at the door?" Sasami whispered.  
"Breakfast.." Washu said tiredly, not even taking the energy to open her eyes.   
Curious, Sasami snuck over to the door. Sasami opened the door, hid behind it and waited for the person to walk into Washu's laboratory.  
"Washu? Are you alright?"  
Ayeka took a few steps inside, shut the door, and searched until she found Washu sprawled across a desk, snoring away. Shaking her head, the princess picked up Washu's breakfast, and headed back to tend to her own meal. Suddenly stopping in her tracks, Ayeka gasped and dropped the plate. It slammed against the ground with a clash, sending shattered peices cluttering the floor.  
"Sasami!"   
  
  
Author's Notes: Just the begining! More to come soon! x.x; 


End file.
